Receive this blog. Enter email here and Blogger will send you a confirmation email.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

My artichoke
plant is in full flower mode, and it’s really cool. Six artichokes now have
bright purple punk-rock hairstyles. I know very little about artichokes, but I’m
still surprised that the artichoke produces such a vibrant flower. After all, artichokes
aren’t brightly-colored: they’re a muddy green, so a nearly fluorescent flower
looks a little out of place on this plant. But I dig it! I’m not complaining.
Just observing. The bees like the flower, too. A lot.

The bees are also busy at the Hymenocallis flowers. These aren’t mine, so I don’t know which specific variety they are. But I love how different they look with those six long petals jutting out in all directions.

My yellow Cannas are blooming, too.

And
one of the newer gardeners at our community garden is growing blackberries.
They look amazing. Wish they were mine! Maybe next year?

Also growing
in our yard: native plants (this is what I optimistically call our weeds). They
certainly seem happy where they are, growing inches a day, right before our
very eyes. I wish they weren’t growing at such an accelerated rate, but who am
I to tell Mother Nature her business?!

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

The idea for
this week’s wacky fun is the result of several ideas colliding. At first my
idea for this week was to make a costume out of art supplies (we seem to have
no shortage of dried-up markers around here). But the idea morphed into a dress
that people could draw on as a piece of ever-changing, interactive art.
Audience participates. I like it! I am a living, talking, walking canvas. Maybe
the fact that school just ended and people have been signing yearbooks has informed
this idea, too. My only requirement is that no one draws crazy R-rated stuff on
my dress. Anything else goes. I’m curious to see how it ends up.

This is my
dress before anyone draws on it:

Of course, I
made a hat. It’s getting too hot for hats but I rallied.

Here is my
dress after I’ve persuaded people that I really do want them to draw on my
clothes. With permanent ink!

In the 1950s
and ‘60s there was an art movement that involved a lot of unpredictability and
public interaction. Composer John Cage was one of the first to experiment with
the idea of art as an experience rather than something hung on a gallery wall
behind velvet ropes. Art was performance-based and these interactions were called
Happenings. I learned about this in an art class I took in my early 20s, and
some of my artist and musician friends and I staged a few happenings. It was
fun in part because it could not be predicted exactly how the happening would
go. Freedom and randomness and chance were a big part of it all. My art experiment today fits with this theme.

In 1965 Yoko
Ono staged a happening called “Cut Piece.” She asked viewers to cut her dress
as she sat on a stage. Ono ended up almost naked, but this (presumably) was
something she accepted as a possible outcome. The kind of art in which an
audience participates is a little like those Choose Your Own Adventure
books—you don’t know exactly how things will end up, but this is part of the
fun. My experiment this week is a little like Yoko Ono’s (although I’m not
handing anyone scissors!) because having someone change your clothing (whether
they’re cutting it or drawing on it) invites people to get closer than they
usually would. I’m turning my weekly art assignment on its ear—I’m asking my
friends, family and even strangers to become the artist. Will strangers want to
draw on a strange lady’s dress? When I talk about art with people I often hear,
“Oh, I can’t even draw a straight line.” That’s okay. Having a dress covered in
photorealistic art isn’t the goal. The point is asking others to participate. I
like seeing what regular people do when presented with something unexpected. What
happens when you invite others to contribute to a wearable, changing piece of
art?

Update,
five hours later:

Well, I’ve
been out and about, asking people to draw on me. It’s been fun and it’s also
been a fascinating study in human behavior. These are my findings:

·Most
people are glad to participate.

·Having
people draw on your clothes is a great ice-breaker.

·Some
people say they don’t know what to draw and they opt for something quick, like
a happy face, and this is okay.

·Some
people drew something personal that reflects their jobs or favorite hobbies.

·Others
felt more comfortable writing something, as opposed to drawing an image.

·A
few people wrote me a personal message (these were friends from the gym, who
see me do Wacky Wednesday stuff each week and seem to like my playfulness).
That was so sweet. It really did feel like a yearbook signing party.

Let’s think
back to yearbooks. What people write says a lot about who they are. Did they
sign only their names? Did they write something nice about you in your yearbook?
Did they draw a funny picture? It’s been more than twenty years since I last signed
yearbooks, in high school. This brought me back. We grown-ups don’t do yearbooks
(I guess we do holiday cards instead, because December isn’t quite busy enough,
right?)—but maybe we should. It bonds people.

Some people
wanted to draw something quick and not very personal, and that is okay. This
experiment wasn’t about pressuring people to draw the most amazing piece of art
ever. It was about interaction and connection with people. Asking them to draw
on me showed them that I like them. Oftentimes people feel more comfortable not
starting conversations, but they’re quite friendly if you make the first move
and show them that you’re not going to bite! I had some very friendly
conversations with people today because I got the ball rolling and once they
knew it was okay to open up, they did. It’s quite a revealing glimpse into
human nature.

I drew this
heart for my friend Allison but the rest of the art was done by others.

I wasn’t
sure how covered this dress would be at the end of my experiment. I suppose I
could have hit the streets for ten hours, asking hundreds of people for their
drawings. But I limited it to five hours and I think I had at least thirty
people draw on me. A few people covered up part of what others had done, a little like graffiti on a wall. The first person (other than my kids) who signed was
a stranger in a parking lot. She drew a Thai house on stilts in yellow marker.
I asked if she was Thai and she said she was. Even though she isn’t 100% fluent
in English, we communicated fairly well, which is so cool. I love that
connection with others can transcend a language barrier. It’s all about whether
people want to try to connect with
others. If we all drew on each other’s clothes, I think we would make a lot of
connection with others. (We humans are designed to bond, after all!) Maybe we
need a yearly Draw On Others day to help facilitate friendliness. Anyone with
me?!

Monday, June 22, 2015

Things change, as you know. Often I'm an
advocate for change because it means that circumstances are getting better. I
like social change. Progress.

Of course, it's a different matter when I
visit my hometown and notice things changing.

I'm not the first person ever to bristle at
change in one's hometown. I think many of us can relate to this. We may like
change in the abstract, but when change surprises us, it can be uncomfortable.
Maybe we like change when we get to vote on it ahead of time and we're mentally
prepared for it. When it sneaks up on us, it's a different matter. Hey, we're
human! We can have mixed feelings.

Anyway, I'm in my hometown, visiting my
parents, and as I took my morning walk today I noticed lots of change. I visit often but
still, changes pop up even between my visits. Big, new houses are replacing the
cute little cottages in the neighborhood. This has been happening for decades
but it seems to be happening more frequently than before (of course it could
just be me). This neighborhood once was lined with darling little houses
from the 1940s, like the adorable two-bedroom house where I grew up. Now
there are two-story houses with beautiful landscaping and endless storage
popping up in their place. I get it, in a way--I have storage envy, too. But
still, I am a little sad that things are changing.

You can't resist change, they say. So as I
walked the streets near my parents house, I tried to think positively. I
reminded myself that it could be a lot worse. In one of my favorite books, a
woman's hometown is damaged severely by a tornado. Her home is gone. The store
where she worked is destroyed. Where I live tornadoes we don't get tornadoes, and
at least my hometown doesn't look like a birthday piñata after kids rip it to
shreds in search of candy. But still, accepting change can be tricky.

So I play devil's advocate for a minute.
Let's say everything was the same as it was thirty years ago. That's the case
in some places where people have moved away, where the town is nearly
abandoned. I wouldn't want that. Still, this change business can be hard to
digest.

Why is change so threatening? Even those of
us who think we like change grapple with this. Do we want landmarks from our
childhood memories preserved because childhood (hopefully) evokes more innocent
times and we long for the days when life was simpler?

I remember a few times when people told methat I'd changed. Usually they didn't mean it as a
compliment! Maybe they wanted me to be the same as I was at eighteen or twenty
five. They didn't like that I'd grown in a new direction. I'm forty-one, and
parts of me are as they were when I was eighteen, and parts aren't.
I've grown as a person, which is good, and I can't be anything other than
what I am right now. There must be some analogy to fit the change in my
hometown, too. Parts of this town are as they were decades ago, and parts are
different. It's more crowded, yes, and that feels like a downside. But maybe
that means that there are more jobs in this community than in the past, which
helps our state's and country's economy. There will be upsides and downsides to
change. And there will be change.

We can't keep the past frozen in time. We'll
have to accept the changes. There still are pieces of the past in our
hometowns and in each of us, but there will be change and growth, too.
We can treasure our memories but we'll survive the changes better if we
try to find some good in the new developments, too. What else can we do? Keep
the change.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Jacaranda trees. Here in Southern California
these trees bloom in May and June. Their colorful lilac blossoms are the
inspiration for this week’s Wacky Wednesday.

At first I imagined this costume being all
about the Jacaranda. But then, inspiration struck, and I made a purple necklace
to go with my purple outfit. The necklace is made out of Shopkins bags. In case
you haven’t spent time with school-aged girls lately, Shopkins are the big toy
this season. They are tiny rubber figures and each comes in a purple rubber
bag. Our daughter is obsessed with Shopkins (as evidenced by the
growing number of purple rubber bags here). Since it’s Jacaranda season and
purple is on my mind, suddenly I had the idea of negotiating a loan of the
purple bags for a Wacky Wednesday costume. The owner of the Shopkins and their
bags was not interested. I had to devise a system of using them without
changing or harming them in any way, and you should see the iron-clad contract
she had me sign. The bags are temporarily in my possession, and I think they
make a delightfully wacky necklace.

My headpiece: jacaranda seed pods, fabric, and
jacaranda blossoms I made from fabric.

My outfit: random purple clothes from my closet.

My apron: Jacaranda seed pods, painted in various
shades of purple and lilac.

For years I’ve collected these seed pods. I saw their
potential as a material long before deciding that they could become part of a
costume. I painted them shades of purple, like the Jacaranda blossoms, and then
hot glued them onto a tulle apron. (Isn’t this what everyone thinks of doing
when they see Jacaranda trees?)

There is a lot of contrast in my themes this week: flexible rubber and firm tree pods; natural
elements and manufactured ones;
something bought and something found for free. I like this contrast, too: a
tree discards pods it no longer needs, and I pick them to turn them into
something I can use. This Wacky Wednesday isn’t as funny as some, but that’s
okay. Sometimes WW will be funny. It always
will involve creativity. This week I’m reveling in the wackiness of turning seed
pods into clothing and toys into accessories.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to unravel Shopkins
bags from my embroidery thread necklace. The bags must be returned to their
owner before the clock strikes midnight--or else!

Thursday, June 11, 2015

There are certain mysteries in the
universe, ones that may never be solved. The one on my mind lately involves
elasticized hair bands for little girls’ pony tails. If you’ve ever bought
them, you’ll notice that they come in packages of twenty or more. Why so many?
Because unlike bunnies, who multiply overnight, hair bands disappear overnight,
and you can never find one when you need one (even if you bought the 20-pack
the day before). Sure, they’re small, which makes losing them easier to do than
losing, let’s say, a Volkswagen bus. But still! I can’t tell you how many
hundreds of hair bands I’ve bought in my life, and they vanish. And don’t get
me started on barrettes.

One recent morning I went into the bathroom
and discovered that a creative young child had been hard at work on an art
installation at the bathroom sink. I thought it was quite imaginative.

Immediately, a familiar tune popped into my mind. Won’t you sing along with me? It’s helpful if you know the Peter, Paul and Mary song, Where Have all the Flowers Gone? I’ve adapted the lyrics but we’re borrowing the tune. Don’t be shy—let’s sing!

Where have all the hair bands gone? (So many vanishing…)Where have all the hair bands gone? (Where did they go?) Where have all the hair bands gone? Young girls have lost them, every one. Will they ever return? When will I ever learn?

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Let’s talk cupcake liners. Or baking cups. Call them what you like. The fluted paper circles that hold a cupcake together, like cupcake underpants. (Stay with me.)Have you noticed how many
cute colors and patterns are available? Gone are the days when they only came in the
silver foil type or pastels. Bring in the colors! Polka dots! Leopard print?
Yes, please! Stripes, swirls, flowers, zebra pattern, gingham, chevrons—many
patterns to choose from and in every color of the rainbow. I’ve kept extra baking cups for years, just waiting for inspiration. I thought they’d make a fun element in an art project, but I wasn’t sure which project. These paper circles have a lot of potential.

This week I decided to turn some colorful baking cups into
wearable art. I flattened the cups into circles and kept hot gluing them together until I had a dress. It was tremendous fun. It’s my Wacky Wednesday project
and sorry to brag, but I think I look delicious!

For the back of the dress I opted not to put the baking cups
everywhere. I do need to sit at some point while I’m wearing this and I don’t want
to rip my cups. The rest of the dress has at least a hundred
baking cups hot glued on (I didn’t bother to count). They are so colorful and festive.

I don't know if people are curious about this aspect, but I like seeing how much fun I can make without spending a lot. Each week I see how much of my costume I can make with material I already have in my sewing stash. This week's costume was made mostly with supplies I already had (and I don't factor that in when I tally the supply cost).

Total spent: $4.50 (for baking cups). In New York City, you can't even buy a real cupcake for that!

Paper as a wearable material actually has some history. Years ago I learned that people
wore paper dresses in the 1960s. I wondered how paper clothes could be
comfortable to wear, or sit in—after all, paper doesn’t bend the way fabric
does. Wouldn’t tearing the back of your pants be a potential side effect? Today
I decided I needed answers, and I took to the Internet. I learned that paper
clothing was reinforced with nylon or rayon, so splitting your pants was not as
much of a risk as you might think. Paper clothing was advertized as a practical
alternative, analogous to a paper cup: easy to dispose of and lightweight. The novelty
of wearing paper epitomizes the very spirit of the 1960s: a decade made up of new
ideas and fashions, rebelling against the expected, and doing your own thing,
man. It was a relatively short-lived trend, however. On www.fashionhistory.lovetoknow.com
I learned more about why the 1960s paper clothing craze went the way of the 18th
century powdered wig. Flammability was a concern (!) as was post-consumer waste. Also, the trend ran out its course. Of
course, vestiges of the paper clothing fad remain. Paper gowns are still used
in certain places, like at the doctor’s office, and those backless
dresses obviously are the pinnacle of high fashion.

Here’s what I’ve learned from
today’s experiment:

Pro: It’s possible to make a dress from
paper baking cups, and it’s fun, too!

Con: It’s not easy to get into (but if
you put it over your head, gravity works with you).

Pro: It’s lightweight and fairly
comfortable.

Con: It’s impossible to take off by
yourself so don’t attempt it if you’re home alone.

All in all, this was a delightful challenge and I had a great time playing around with these paper circles. Most people like cupcakes, but I think it’s high time baking cups get their day in the spotlight! * * * * * *

On a different note, I’ve been thinking a lot about whether my wacky creations coexist with
something else on my mind, something a lot more serious. If you have a minute,
please read the post below/before this one, “Because Laughter is Therapeutic.”

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Today, in the course of one hour, I heard about two serious
medical diagnoses given to people I know. Lately I’ve been all wrapped up in my
Wacky Wednesday costume ideas, but the news of these diagnoses really brought
me back to earth. Part of me sometimes feels a little too self-indulgent,
spending time each week creating fun costumes. Are there more important causes
I could involve myself with each week? I’m sure there are many. The two
diagnoses I learned about added to my questions about whether I can justify the
time I spend on these creations. I’m taking to my blog to try to figure it out.

I volunteer every week, so it’s not as though all my time is
spent on selfish matters. And as a mom of young kids, I do need parts of my
life that aren’t directly about my kids. It keeps me at least semi-balanced.
That is a lesson that took a long time to sink in, because there’s always a
million things that need doing when your kids are young. Could I justify doing
a “me” thing, when kids need so much of my help, time and energy?

Who knows? It’s not like there’s a specific formula for
things like this, as there is for things like tire pressure or blood pressure.
What about combatting life pressure?
Since there’s no equation available, I’m going to follow my instincts and keep
doing what has brought me a lot of joy in recent months. I’m going to keep
making my creations and sharing the fun.

I’m wondering whether to send Wacky Wednesday blogs to the
friend my age who is dealing with a sobering diagnosis. Would it be
disrespectful to send her notices of all my fun, when her summer is going to
involve regular hospital visits? I hope not. I hope that she’d get a boost and
a laugh from my wackiness. Am I simply justifying the time I spend on fun? Maybe.
But I also know that people tell me that my wacky adventures brighten their
day.

The second startling diagnosis I heard about involves a friend’s
dad. My friend said that she was going to forward my wacky blog posts to her
mom because her mom will need some laughs in the coming months. I felt so honored
that my gusto may give people a laugh when they need it. A friend living out of
state tells me that my wacky blogs give her a boost each week, and this means
the world to me.

I’m not suggesting that laughter can replace
medicine--I don’t believe that. But can it boost people’s spirits as well as
their health? I think so. There’s even research that supports that. On a
personal note, I can attest to this, too. For decades I’ve managed a chronic
health condition. It’s not something I’ve talked about in this blog over the
last six years. I am not my medical condition and I don’t want it to be what
people remember most about me. But I’m mentioning it now because I know how stressful it
can be to manage health challenges. And I take to
the Internet for laughter therapy on a regular basis. Does watching a few
minutes of Chris Rock or Ellen DeGeneres doing standup comedy actually change
my medical situation? No. But it takes my stress level down a notch and
then the pressures I feel are a little
more manageable. So people, we’re going to laugh it out. Sometimes a good cry
is an amazing tonic, too. Crying and laughing both get the stress out, at least
for a while, and this helps make things less overwhelming. We all have
challenges, whether it’s obvious to passersby or something not everyone can
see. So let’s laugh. Laughter is a free gift and a balm. It make me happy to share
my wacky humor with the world and I hope that it gives people a boost. So
fasten your seat belts because there’s a lot more fun up ahead…

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

In case it’s been a few years since you’ve watched Sesame
Street, the name of this costume references a song that Ernie sings to his rubber ducky while in the bath.

The idea for this week’s costume came about
last week on a rainy day. Miraculously, I knew where the umbrella was, and
after brushing the cobwebs off it, we opened it up. Our daughter looked so cute
walking to school with it, like a cartoon duck. This image started turning the costume gears in my brain.

Rather than attempt to become
a rubber ducky, I decided to use lots of ducks as decoration. I love
yellow—it’s so cheerful—and duckies are quite fun, and it makes me happy to create something playful.

The first part of this costume to solidify in my mind was
the hat. I haven’t been much of a hat wearer until my Wacky Wednesdays began.
Now I can’t stop thinking of fun hat ideas. And when you think about it, a hat
really announces your presence. It’s visible from a distance. Especially if
it’s made of rubber ducks!

It was great fun making the ducks for my dress. Each is
different. I
created the hat, skirt and shirt from fabric I already had in my sewing stash, so
the only thing I bought to bring this costume to life was $8 worth of rubber
ducks.

Earrings, while a subtle addition, can bring a costume (or
any outfit) from good to great. I created these duck earrings from oven bake
clay I already had, and paint.

And don’t forget shoes. Just duct tape or hand sew something
fun on top of shoes you already have for a temporary effect.

Thanks for stopping by to check out this week’s Wacky
Wednesday. I’ll be back again soon with more fun!

Creator’s note: no duckies were harmed during the
making of this costume.